A nursery said they didn’t have space for my baby until 2028…how?

[ellecf]

We are relocating in the summer having just bought a house in another county which means new childcare arrangements for my daughters. A nursery I reached out for had space for my 3yo but said there would be nothing for my baby (to start from 1 in April 2026) until 2028. I just said ok when they told me, but now I’ve thought about it I can’t do the maths. Surely that means they have spaces filled by babies who have no even been conceived yet? Anyone able to explain?

Yup, i have no idea how that works...

I’m glad it’s not just me 😂

Maybe they have enough older kids, with cheaper ratios for them, to not really have a baby room until they all go off to school?

Otherwise it's mental!

They'll have a baby room with X spaces that your baby would be in until say 18m. That will be booked up now.

Then a toddler room with Y spaces that all the babies currently booked in will progress to.

Then a three and four year old room with more spaces and a higher ratio that all of those toddlers will progress into - and that's the point at which they could accommodate your baby, when she's three, because all of the other spaces won't be available when she's age appropriate for them.

That might not be super well explained but hopefully you see what I mean

Probably mean they have enough on the waiting list to fill spaces till 2028, but obviously most of those will come off the waiting list as they will be starting school…

I had one nursery tell me “most people” put their name down as soon as they conceived (I was about 6 weeks pp). It was nonsense, I got a place ten months later (in February, so not even down to kids leaving for school).

This does go some way to explaining it as I hadn’t thought about the age range of the room. Head still hurts from the maths though!

Your baby will be 3 in 2028. They won't be looking for a space in a baby room with babies that aren't conceived yet. The "competition" for spaces is with children who are around their own age. The nursery have told you there is a place in 2028, because they can probably take more children in then as ratios get larger

Okay this makes more sense! It’s the way they’ve worded it that’s thrown me. So what they are basically saying is they are full in the baby room with no space in April 2026 and unlikely to be at all for her. Which is fine and would be a simpler way to word it.

I see I’ve thought about it completely wrong, forgetting my baby actually grows up 😂 but I blame their wording for throwing me

Our baby room is 0-2. I booked DS’s space at 4 months pregnant in October 2023 and he will be in the room until mid 2026. The space I booked was the last one they had so depending on the age range their baby room really could be full for the next 3 years.

Yeah I recently got a space at a nursery I put my child’s name down for in January 2023 (needless to say I now have other arrangements). The explanation was there waitlist is huge, siblings get priority and my favourite, that people put their name down while still trying to conceive (pregnancy at the very least should really be a prerequisite for putting a child’s name down on a nursery waitlist!)